Local ABE Consortium Assessment Policy – Template

Effective Date: (date)

Policy Purpose and Rationale – The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) – Adult Basic Education (ABE) office requires that:

  • ABE programs use National Reporting System (NRS) approved adult appropriate standardized assessments (CASAS or TABE) to:
  • Pre-test and assignstudents in an NRS Educational Functioning Level (EFL) within the first 12 hours of instruction
  • Administer subsequent CASAS/TABE tests to measure NRS level completion/ gain
  • Assessments are administered in a standardized and consistent way by all programs statewide according to the test publisher guidelines
  • Program staff administering assessments be trained in the test administration and scoring

Required Benchmarks for ABEConsortia

  • NRS level completion/gain – meet or exceed stateNRS target percentages for Minnesota ABE
  • Test students every 40 to 60 hours (testing schedule can be based on local program intensity and average hours of instruction)
  • Maintain a 60% or greater post-testing rate for all participants within the program year

Local Consortium Benchmarks (identify benchmarks in addition to thestate required benchmarks, e.g., Local program post-testing goal is 70%)

Local Consortium Plan to Implement Assessment Policy(describe plan or system to monitor and review relevant data and create solutions to reconcile discrepancies and problems, i.e., monthly breakdown of pre- and post-testing results of each site or teacher will be emailed to all consortium personnel)

Suggested headings for this section follow:

  • Initial Assessment/Pre-testing
  • Special Testing Accommodations
  • Test Scores Outside the Validity/Accuracy Range
  • Learners Re-entering or Transferring
  • Post-testing
  • Site Post-testing Frequency Options
  • Learners Exempt from Post-testing
  • Learners Leaving the ABE Program
  • New Teacher/Staff Orientation to Assessment Tools
  • Train/Re-train Teachers/Staff in the Use of Assessment Tools

Using MIS Assessment and Testing Data to Monitor Performance

Assessment Schedule (List testing schedule by site/location)

Allowable Consortium Program Assessments (list of tests determined by local program by program)

For the purposes of this policy, ABE staff may use –

  • ESL programming (may be more specific) – CASAS (list what series, i.e., Life and Work and modality, i.e., Reading and Listening), BEST Plus
  • ABE programming (may be more specific) – TABE (list forms, i.e., 9/10 and identify it by survey or complete battery)
  • Work-based Project Learners

Responsible for ImplementingAssessmentPolicy (list staff roles determined by local program)

Testing staff includes:

  • Teachers
  • Testing Staff

Policy Contact Information

MN Department of Education – ABE

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